Sequence 8 : Swindler.

Bringing the flask with the deep red potion towards his mouth, Loki swallowed the contents with a single gulp.

Almost immediately, Loki felt something pulse across his body, starting from his stomach.

'This feels warmer than last time. Is it because of the dragon blood?'

Feeling his muscles wriggle and his brain continuing to lose focus as it heard the repeated chants of 'Hogwarts…Walburga…', Loki entered cogitation to calm himself and reduce the chance of losing control.

The potion gradually dispersed into his body, leaving behind only the feeling of fullness that represented that he had one hundred per cent of his potion left to be digested.

As the disturbances reduced, Loki could finally stand at ease and so he stepped out of cogitation with a simple thought. With his eyes closed he felt the changes in his body and studied the new stream of information about new abilities that had appeared inside his head.

"Ah…I see." Loki mumbled.

His posture suddenly straightened and his slouch was no longer visible, instead, he stood with his shoulders squared while his hand held the now empty flask naturally and professionally.

Everything about Loki just seemed a little more elegant.

If before Loki's mannerisms as a thief dictated how he held himself, currently Loki felt like he could easily pass off as a Nobleman from the Most Ancient and Noble house of Black.

This was the first ability the potion granted Loki, it made him more elegant in all aspects.

"Hmm…I understand."

Loki blew the whistle hidden on his wrist and summoned Sunny who appeared immediately.

The Niffler looked at Loki with a confused expression since Loki felt different to it somehow but it failed to point out the changes.

"Don't worry about that for now, it is because of the potion. Can you help me with an experiment for a bit?"

*Sqeuak* *Squeak*

"Alright, if you win a game, I will give you a galleon."

*Squeak* *Squeak*

Loki pulled out a gold galleon from his pocket and under Sunny's curious gaze held it in his right hand.

"All you have to do is pick the hand you think the galleon is in, alright?"

*Squeak* *Squeak*

Loki tossed the coin into the air and in front of Sunny, without using any of his theft abilities to perform sleight of hand, grabbed the coin from the air with his left hand.

"Did you see which hand the coin is in?" Loki asked Sunny and the Niffler nodded with eagerness as he rubbed his hands greedy to win the Galleon.

But then Loki said something, "The Galleon is in my right hand alright?"

As if in a trance the Niffler nodded and then Loki asked the question, "Which hand is the Galleon in?"

With speed comparable to a frog aiming for an insect the Niffler's hand shot out as it touched Loki's right hand.

A smirk formed on Loki's face and he opened the right hand, only to reveal that there was no coin in it and that the coin was actually in the left hand still.

*SQUEAK*

The Niffler shouted in despair.

"Why did you change your choice?" Loki asked the despairing Niffler.

*Squeak* *Squeak* *Squeak* *Squeak*

"You don't know?"

*squeak*

"Do you remember hearing me tell you that the coin was in the right hand?"

*Squeak* *Squeak*

"I see, so you believed me? Do you know why you believed me?"

*Squeak* *Squeak*

"You don't know? I just felt believable?"

*Squeak*

The Niffler sat down depressed and made a frowning face at Loki since he caused it to lose a gold Galleon.

"Awww, don't be sad, here, you can have the Galleon." Loki said tossing the Galleon to the Niffler who immediately became enamoured by it and began to look at it in every way.

This was Loki's second ability, it gave him the ability to interact with a person's Body of Heart and Mind and make them believe seemingly random things as long as the person did not think too deeply about it.

'This ability was greatly exaggerated on Sunny, I doubt it'll work this well on another Beyonder, or even human.'

Once they thought a little more deeply about his suggestions and paid attention to it, they would end up breaking the illusion.

Even things like Cogitation would help them counteract the effects.

The third ability that Loki gained was charm, it allowed him to set his aura, making him more approachable or even more unapproachable like a rose with thorns but either way, people would admire him for his charm.

Loki snapped his fingers and grabbed the Niffler's attention.

But before anything else happened, the Niffler walked up to Loki and as if in a trance handed over the coin that was in his hands to Loki.

"Thank you." Loki said snapping his fingers and immediately the effect broke.

*SQUEAK* *SQUEAK*

The Niffler squeaked indignantly wondering why it just gave away the coin it was holding and loved dearly to Loki.

This was Loki's fourth ability, an extension of his second ability of Mental interference, he could non-verbally plant thoughts into the mind of his target which they would act upon if they didn't think them through carefully.

Of course, a simple mental shield could block such an attempt but it would work otherwise.

Loki gave back the gold galleon to the Niffler and finally, waved his hands beside Sunny. He caused an exact replica of the little Niffler to appear, mimicking his actions and doing everything exactly as he did.

But this meant that there were two Gold Galleons on the table now and Sunny wanted the other one.

The Niffler jumped to attack his counterpart by hiding his own coin in his pouch but nothing seemed to happen as he passed through the illusion and fell on the table through its other side.

*Squeak*

*Squeak* *Squeak* *Squeak*

The Niffler tried to use its beyonder ability to put it to sleep and stun or daze it but somehow the other Niffler copied it voicelessly.

*Squeak*

The Niffler voiced its complaint to Loki but to its surprise the illusory Niffler vanished as a plume of smoke, its colours dissolving into the air around it as it faded away.

"It was just an illusion.", Loki said patting the Niffler and giving his respectable friend another gold Galleon for helping him out.

This was Loki's fifth and final ability, it gave him the ability to make small illusions.

Loki felt his current limit was an illusion the size of Sunny but he was sure it'd increase later as he digested more of the potion.

"Now to the important part of the question, who should I swindle?" Loki mumbled his thoughts out loud.

'It'd be nice if I could swindle some professors since they have a high sequence, but they're all so nice to me…'

'Maybe I can swindle them by making them feel happy?'

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